Skepta-the first grime victor at Mercury since 2003-takes home a £25,000 cash prize.
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Singer-songwriter Jamie said: “I love the Hammersmith Apollo, I’ve always wanted to play there”.
He said he hoped the win would introduce grime to an even wider audience, adding: “I want to inspire freedom, not just in music, not just in grime”.
“Not just in music”.
David Bowie was the bookies favourite and, had he triumphed, been the Prize’s first posthumous victor.
Skepta was joined on the 12-strong shortlist by fellow grime artist Kano who earlier said it was “crazy” for the pair to be nominated.
Radiohead, who hold the Mercury record for most nominations but have never won the prize, were shortlisted for A Moon Shaped Pool, in which the experimental rockers inch back to their guitar-rock origins. “I’ve been trying to do this music for so long, I want to thank my friends and my family… we did this for us and the love is very appreciated…”
Skepta made the final six alongside the late Bowie, twice-nominated Laura Mvula, five-times-nominated Radiohead, The 1975 and Michael Kiwanuka.
The track also features on Bowie’s final album, “Blackstar”.
Speaking before the ceremony Hall told the Press Association that performing in the Bowie musical was “one of the highlights of not just my career, but of my life”.
Established in 1992 and open to acts from Britain and Ireland, the Mercury Prize often favors the eclectic and obscure over better-known performers.
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Other albums shortlisted for the 2016 prize included Michael Kiwanuka’s Love & Hate, and Bat For Lashes’ The Bride – a concept record about a woman whose fiancé is killed in a vehicle crash while driving to their wedding.
